A Lesson Before Dying
...drop everything and leave. He wants to run away with his love, Vivian, to a place where they can have a future together. But he is either unable or unwilling to cut the necessary ties that bind him to Bayonne. Jefferson’s search is much more primal in its nature. He wants to know that he is a man, not a hog, as his own defense attorney calls him. Jefferson’s self-identity begins to deteriorate as he spends hour upon hour alone in a jail cell with nothing to do but contemplate whether or not his life contains any meaning at all. He begins to refer to himself as a hog, even acting like one at times, until Grant pulls him out of his stupor. Together, these two men struggle to overcome racial discrimination and society’s expectations. The white men whom Grant must ask permission from to see Jefferson sneer at him and mock his attempts to reach Jefferson. At one point, they even place bets on whether or not Grant will be successful. They believe that Grant is wasting his time, that he would do just as well in attempting to teach an animal. The sheriff tells him, “…I’d rather see a contented hog go to that chair than an aggravated hog. It would be better for everybody concerned. There ain’t a thing you can put in that skull that ain’t there already” (49). Grant also has to act inferior when he speaks to whites: “‘She doesn’t, huh?’ Sam Guidry asked me. He emphasized ‘doesn’t.’ I was supposed to have said ‘don’t.’ I was being too smart” (48). The expectation of Mr. Guidry, and the majority of whites during this time period, is that blacks should be subservient and intellectually inferior to whites, and anything less than submission was a serious transgression. White Bayonne’s expectations for Jefferson are not so different. Jefferson is supposed to be a mindless animal, pacing its cage until they decide to put it down. They may not admit to it, but they are afraid that Grant will help Jefferson to prove that he is not an animal. They are afraid that Jefferson will prove himself to be a man with pride and dignity, which is exactly what he does. Grant tells Jefferson why they are afraid. “The last thing they ever want to see is a black man stand, and think, and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myth. They would no longer have justification for having made us slaves and keeping us in the condition we are in. As long as none of us stand, they’re safe” (193). As all of this is going on, there are many things going through Jefferson’s mind that he is not able to express. Therefore, Gaines gives us alternative means to understanding his feelings. The radio is one means of accomplishing this. The radio plays songs to match Jefferson’s mood. When Jefferson is feeling low, the song is a sad cowboy song” (219). Later on, after he’d spoken with Grant for a while, the radio began playing another cowboy song, but this one is “quiet and not disturbing” (223). And after that, “You Are My Sunshine” comes on the radio as Jefferson talks about carrying everyone’s cross. Another important symbol is the diary. Actually, it may be less of a symbol than a device used by the author to get inside Jefferson’s head. This diary offers the reader a glimpse of what Jefferson is feeling and thinking in his last hours—all of the things that he wants to say, but simply can’t express aloud. In the few short pages of his journal, Jefferson reveals the thoughts that lead to his final transformation. He examines society’s treatment of him, as well as the unfairness of the situation as a whole. However, he never once comes across as bitter or cynical. He simply writes. Another symbol present in this novel is the kitchen door at the back of Pichot’s old plantation home. Grant has no intention of ever going through that door again, but his aunt forces him to do so. This door represents to Grant the subservience forced upon his people by Southern white society. The fact that any colored person is required to use this entrance rather than the front door is a perfect metaphor for white society’s dominating position over the black people of the country, one of the very institutions of Southern society at this time. Racial segregation is one of the m...